Santiago Narváez Onriza, a Lápiz de Acero nominee, joins Buena from Bogotá

Buena went looking for a young designer at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and came back with Santiago Narváez Onriza. He joins the studio this month from Bogotá, straight from a debut that already has an award nomination on it: his interactive analogue magazine, Disonante, was nominated at Colombia’s Lápiz de Acero in 2025.

A magazine you have to play with

Disonante is a magazine you can’t just flip through. It is analogue and interactive, made to be handled rather than just read. In 2025 it was nominated in the editorial category of the Lápiz de Acero, in the section for new talent.

That is a good sign for a studio like Buena. Most of what we make has to earn a second look, whether it is a campaign, a brand or an app, and Disonante is an object designed to make people stop and do something.

A lab’s identity, built by a student

At the Universidad Nacional, where he studied graphic design, Santiago spent 2024 and 2025 as a student assistant at LIATER, the university’s high-voltage and renewable energy innovation lab. He designed its identity, its graphics, its social posts and its video. In 2024 he also worked on the identity for the university’s induction week, the welcome for its new students.

It is an unusual training ground: engineers, energy research and a public university, all needing to look as good as the work they do. It is also close to what Buena does every day, which is take something important and make people care about it.

Santiago works in brand, product and editorial design, and edits video. At Buena he designs across products and brands. His profile is on his team page.

Why Buena recruited at the Universidad Nacional

This July, Buena set out to hire a junior designer from the Universidad Nacional, to learn the studio’s AI process alongside its senior designers on websites, brands and apps. The role was fully remote, with a path to full time. In the note that went out to candidates, Doug Burnett explained why the studio was hiring at all.

The idea is simple. A young designer who learns to work with AI from the first day doesn’t have to unlearn anything. Santiago gets senior designers to learn from, real clients and real products, and a studio that expects him to ship.

The newest designer wrote the guide

Santiago didn’t stay new for long. He has worked on Corazón, Buena’s company brain, helped QA new products with fresh eyes, and wrote the walkthrough that teaches new people Gitterdone, the studio’s project app. The newest designer on the team wrote the guide everyone else now learns from.

The newest designer on the team wrote the guide everyone else learns from.

He also brought the studio a plant, and then ran the vote to name it: the suggestion with the most hearts by the end of the day became its official name. It is a very Buena way to name a plant.

By October he was a full-time product designer.